Just before 1000 AD, unusually warm weather allowed Viking traders to settle in Greenland, looking for furs and ivory. The first Vikings arrived in 986 AD, just as the Tuniit began to move southward into Greenland. The Inuit apparently heard rumors – maybe from their Tuniit neighbors – about these Vikings who, like East Asian traders, would buy furs and ivory and sell you iron knives.

Inuit fur traders headed east across northern Canada, and many Inuit people settled in Labrador, Newfoundland, and Greenland. The Inuit used their dogs and boats and weapons to push aside the Tuniit people they found there. They also brought with them the Mongol recurved bow, which worked well for killing enemies as well as for hunting.

But about 1350 AD this warmer weather ended and there was instead a period of colder weather called the Little Ice Age. Sailing from Greenland to Norway got harder with more danger from floating ice. At the same time, North Africans started to trade more with West Africa, where they could get higher quality elephant ivory. The Vikings slowly stopped trading with the Inuit. The Vikings abandoned their last settlement in Greenland soon after 1408 AD, just as the Inuit finished conquering Greenland from the Tuniit. After the Vikings left, the Inuit dropped out of popular ken but I doubt they were completely forgotten.

To what extent though were Europeans of the time aware of the differences between these groups?

Good question. People in the past didn't necessarily view things with scientific rigour but , at different times, there was often a curiosity about exotic people & places.

The obvious example in this topic about sloppy thinking was the use of the word "Eskimaux" which is, I believe, an Algonquin word used to describe their enemies &, hence, a bit of an insult. I also understand the word "Inuit" isn't exactly adequate either as it applies onlt to some of the group we apply it too.

"The Inuit apparently heard rumors – maybe from their Tuniit neighbors – about these Vikings who, like East Asian traders, would buy furs and ivory and sell you iron knives."

What's the source on this? Far as I can tell neither the Inuits nor the Tuniits were writing at this point. We wouldn't have a record of this unless the Scandinavians wrote down that the Native Americans were hearing rumors.